


Always By Your Side

by CelesteFitzgerald



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 18:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17606516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald
Summary: The day after the full moon, Sirius rushes to the Hospital Wing to check on Remus - as usual. The number of scratches covering Remus's body, however, is much higher than usual.





	Always By Your Side

As soon as Transfiguration ended, Sirius rushed from the classroom, leaving even James and Peter behind. Usually he would be on his way to lunch at that time, but with Remus in the Hospital Wing lunch could wait. The night before had been the full moon and Sirius couldn’t leave Remus all alone.

After slowing up briefly to double check for something in the pocket of his robe, Sirius continued running, ignoring the glares from the students he accidentally bumped into along the way. He made it to the Hospital Wing a few minutes later, out of breath. Once inside, he quickly spotted the only occupied bed and started making his way to Remus’s side.

Unfortunately, he was stopped by Madam Pomfrey a few meters away. “Mr. Black, I advise you to let Mr. Lupin rest.”

Apparently after two years of Sirius’s visits, Madam Pomfrey still thought she had a chance of stopping him. “I won’t stay long, promise,” he said as he began walking around her.

But she placed a hand on his shoulder and held him in place. “Mr. Black, I have been very patient with you in the past, but today I really must insist. With the way last night went, he needs lots of rest if he is to heal properly.”

Sirius’s breath caught in his throat. “What? Is he okay—”

“He’s fine. It just…wasn’t his best night. Why don’t you come back after dinner?”

And spend the whole day worrying about Remus? Not a chance. “Can I stay if I don’t wake him up?”

Madam Pomfrey sighed deeply. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance I can talk you out of this, is there?”

Sirius shook his head.

“Go ahead,” Madam Pomfrey said as she pulled out her wand to bring a chair over to Remus’s bed for Sirius.

Sirius made his way to the chair and sat down, his gaze fixed on Remus. There were several new scratches on his arms, and a larger one running from the top of his forehead, across his left eyebrow, and onto his cheek. His eyes were squeezed shut and his breathing came in sharp bursts.

More than anything, Sirius wanted to run his fingers through Remus’s hair to comfort him—he hated seeing him in pain. But he promised Madam Pomfrey not to disturb him, so he held still.

Remus suddenly gasped in his sleep, his arms and legs jolting. Concerned, Sirius leaned toward him, but he sighed in relief after a few seconds when Remus returned to sleeping peacefully—until he noticed that the movement had shifted the sheet that was covering Remus.

The sheet had moved low enough that Sirius could see his chest—or rather, the deep gash that ran the length of his chest. “No,” Sirius whispered, reaching a hand toward Remus. He pulled up short before making contact, though, and instead rested his hand on the side of the bed.

He knew that Madam Pomfrey was doing everything she could to help and that the cuts would hardly leave a scar once they healed, but it looked so much more painful than usual. Sirius felt so helpless, wishing that he could take the pain away. Hopefully soon he’d be able to once he, James, and Peter finished up their research on how to become Animagi. But it could take months before they were successful—maybe even a year—and Sirius didn’t want to wait that long.

“Sirius?” A hoarse voice interrupted Sirius’s thoughts.

Sirius turned to look at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said, secretly glad that he had woken up.

Remus blinked rapidly as he pulled the bed sheet back up, covering most of his injuries. “Have you been here long? Where are Peter and James?” he asked as he tried to sit up.

“No, lay down,” Sirius said as he pressed down lightly on Remus’s shoulder, carefully avoiding touching any of his cuts. “They’re coming by after they finish eating.”

“’Finish eating’…wait, you didn’t skip lunch, did you?” Remus asked, pushing up against Sirius’s hand as he attempted to sit again, but Sirius didn’t budge.

“It’s fine, I’ll eat later—”

“No, you need to eat. I’m already enough of a danger to everyone as it is, I don’t need my friends starving to death because of me,” Remus muttered.

“Stop that,” Sirius said as he gave in and ran his fingers through Remus’s hair—since he was already awake, there was no harm done, right? “I’m here because I care about you—I _want_ to be here. And if you’re really that concerned about me ‘starving,’ then you’ll be happy to know that I brought food with me.” Sirius untangled his hand from Remus’s hair and reached into his pocket, pulling out the bar of chocolate he had grabbed from their room that morning.

“Chocolate doesn’t count as lunch,” Remus said.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on it being my lunch. It’s a snack for you.”

“For me?”

“Yeah. It’s not quite the same as a healing potion, but I still think it’ll help,” Sirius said as he held the chocolate out to Remus.

Remus laughed as he reached for the candy—then he winced and stopped moving.

Sirius leaned closer and ran his thumb over Remus’s shoulder. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“’s not so bad,” Remus said.

“Remus…”

“Well, of course it bloody hurts. What did you expect?” Remus snapped. “No—sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

“I think you’ve earned the right to yell,” Sirius said, giving him a small smile. Not wanting Remus to be in any more pain than he had to be, Sirius opened the chocolate bar and held it up to Remus’s mouth. “Here.”

Remus’s face flushed immediately. “I’m not going to let you _feed_ me chocolate.”

“Why not?” Sirius frowned. “You need to eat, and I won’t let you hurt yourself by moving around too much.”

“…Do you honestly not understand how embarrassing that is?”

“It’s just me here,” Sirius said. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.” He lightly poked at the sides of Remus’s mouth with the chocolate until he started to smile again.

“Idiot,” Remus muttered as he took a bite.

Sirius watched as Remus ate and saw a bit of the tension melt away from his face. He seemed to being enjoying—

“Can you please not stare at me?” Remus asked.

“Right. Sorry,” Sirius said as he jerked his head away. They sat in silence for a minute, not meeting eyes.

“I never said I was done eating.”

Smiling, Sirius held the candy to him for another bite. “So, is it helping?”

“Helping with what?” Remus asked through a mouthful of chocolate.

“Um…this?” Sirius asked, gesturing to Remus’s scratches.

“Oh, right,” Remus said. “…Maybe it’s helping a little.”

“Good, then keep eating.”

“So demanding,” Remus teased.

As Remus ate, Sirius talked about everything Remus had missed in Transfiguration that morning—which, according to Sirius, wasn’t much. Despite the sighs and eye rolls, Sirius knew that Remus was enjoying himself.

Someone cleared their throat, and Sirius turned around to see Madam Pomfrey standing with her arms crossed. “I didn’t wake him up, I swear,” Sirius said.

“He really didn’t,” Remus added.

“However true that may be, you need your rest if wish to get better, Mr. Lupin,” Madam Pomfrey said.

“But I’m already feeling a lot better,” Remus said.

“Rules are rules,” she said, gesturing toward the door.

Sirius frowned in defeat. “Fine, I’ll be gone in a minute.”

Madam Pomfrey nodded and walked back to her office.

As he stood up to leave, Sirius looked back at Remus. “You’re really feeling that much better?”

“I am,” Remus said.

“I bet it was the chocolate,” Sirius said with a smirk.

“I was going to say it was you, but if you’re going with the chocolate then I won’t boost your ego.”

After a few seconds of confused sputtering, Sirius managed to let out a quiet “oh.” Remus just laughed—then yawned.

“Sleep well,” Sirius said. “I’ll be back around dinnertime.”

“It better be _after_ you eat, this time,” Remus said.

“I promise,” Sirius said as he ran his fingers through Remus’s hair one more time, then headed toward the exit. Before he made it to the door, he turned back to look at Remus. His eyes were already closed, and his breathing was slow and steady.

Smiling, Sirius left the Hospital Wing to go meet up with James and Peter for the end of lunch—if lunch hadn’t already ended, at least. Talking with Remus always seemed to result in Sirius losing track of time. It was a good thing Sirius loved losing track of time.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Healing


End file.
